Field: This invention relates to portable fluid carrying bottles or flasks used to carry liquids and more specifically to flexible bottles or flasks that are suitable for attachment to the person for carrying liquids including drinking liquids, beverages and soup-like foods and even more specifically to flexible flasks that have an associated pump for urging fluids therefrom.
State of the Art: Many different styles and types of bottles or flasks are available to transport fluids and, more specifically, liquids such as water or some other similar liquid as well as foods like soups, beverages and the like. Solid insulated bottles or containers typically have some form of glass or glasslike container within a housing and as a result are not flexible and may be regarded as heavy. Such solid insulated bottles or containers are generally viewed to not be well suited for use by cyclists, hikers, cross country skiers and others who are involved in similar outdoor activity and who are transporting fluids on their person directly or by attachment to some other structure being carried or moved by them
Some plastic bottles are solid but flexible so they can be squeezed by the hand of the user to urge fluids out. Some versions have a push-pull valve for insertion into the mouth so that a user may suck out the fluid while squeezing the bottle to urge the fluid outward. Other versions have tubes that may be inserted into the mouth and allow for sucking while squeezing the bottle to obtain the liquids. Yet other bottles or flasks are configured to be pressurized with air to urge the fluid out of the bottle or flasks.
Flasks made of opposing plastic panels sealed together along their perimeters are also known. They may be placed inside of an insulating device such as a neoprene bag or a bag made of other similar insulating material. The bags may be attached to the belt, to other structures such as a backpack frame or a bicycle frame or to the person proximate an arm. The user may operate the flask by removing a cap from the spout and drinking. Alternately, the cap may be configured to contain a bite valve such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,357 (Denton, et al.). Other arrangements allow for the user to have a tube extend from the flask to a desired location where it may be accessed easily. Yet other arrangements are known in which a periodic or mechanical pumping action is available to urge the liquid out of the flask. For example, a flask can be placed between the upper arm and torso so that the user can effect a pumping action by drawing his or her arm towards the torso in a periodic fashion.
Flasks including those which are rigid and squeezable as well as those made from opposing plastic panels may be placed in an insulating material such as a neoprene jacket, pocket or container to retain the liquids in the flask at a desired temperature. In many uses, cold liquids are desired. To cool liquids, it is sometimes desired to place ice cubes into the flask to act as a coolant. To place ice cubes into the flask, at least some cubes need to be broken in order to fit down or through the spout. Further, to insert the ice as well as the fluid itself, the cap must be removed including the drinking mechanism or arrangement such as a bite valve or a tube. In removing the cap and/or the drinking mechanism, the user may wish to place the cap and/or the drinking mechanism on a nearby surface so that both hands are free to effect the introduction of the liquid and any associated ice. As a result, the user exposes the drinking mechanism to contamination from nearby surfaces and also runs the risk of knocking the cap and/or the drinking mechanism onto the ground or floor. Should the user be out of doors, the result may be extensive contamination. Of course contamination means that a user should undertake to clean whatever is contaminated. Since effective cleaning requires soap or a germicide of some type, it can be seen that cleaning can be quite inconvenient in many situations such as when one is camping.
Of course it is also known that some may want to introduce solids other than ice into a flask. For example, some users may seek to introduce soups having solids or freeze-dried foods for reconstitution. For such items, it can be seen that the user must again remove the cap and any drinking mechanism and thereby run the risk of contamination particularly because drinking mechanisms are not suitable candidates for a cap string or line to hold the cap attached to the flask.
Some flasks or bottles are constructed to be squeezable so that a pressure can be exerted on the fluids to force them out of the flask or bottle. Of course, a user must use his or her hand to squeeze the flask or bottle while typically positioning a spout in the user's mouth. Thus the user must free up a hand when the time to do so may be inconvenient if not risky. Systems that are hands free or that may be used in a way to pressurize the flask intermittently without manipulation of the container itself are not presently known.
As a result there is a need for a flask that permits the user to insert solids with a drinking mechanism attached. There is also a need for a flask that permits the user to pressurize the flask separately or at the same time fluid is being extracted.